Escaping Fate
by oxRavenoxoNightwingxo
Summary: What if Sarah hadn't gone the way the worm told her? What if she'd gone 'that way' instead? She may have beaten the Labyrinth but Jareth isn't through with her yet... Rated 'M' for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Don't go that way!" the fuzzy blue worm yelled at Sarah as she headed left through the opening.

"What was that?" she asked, turning back, hoping for more advice.

Impatiently the worm replied, "I said 'Don't go that way!' Never go that way."

"Oh," Sarah said, mostly to herself. "Thanks." With a smile on her lips and a spring in her step she turned around and headed to the right instead. But this didn't feel right. Indeed the labyrinth had invaded her thoughts with how disturbing it was, but going this way... No, something was definitely not right with going this way. Turning around, her eyes followed the other possible path.

_That way, Sarah, _a voice sounded in her head, barely a whisper. _Go that way._ It urged her on, almost begging her to follow the leftwards path. _You know I'm right_, it whispered again. She couldn't quite tell if the voice was male or female for its low volume, but somehow she trusted it completely. Making up her mind, Sarah raced back to where she had found the worm, glaring at it defiantly. "And why shouldn't I go that way?" she asked demandingly as the worm began to wriggle back into its home.

Pulling itself out of the hole, the worm glared back at her. "Because it goes to somewhere you don't want to go," it argued back.

"And where would that be?" Sarah didn't have time for these games, she had to find her younger brother Toby, and fast. Every second she spent arguing with this incompetent creature lost another vital second to her quest.

"To that castle of course!" the worm cried out exasperatedly. "That Goblin King hides away in there and you don't want to anger him by getting there so quick now do you?" The worm gasped as it realised what it had told the girl standing in front of him, covering its mouth with two of its blue hands. "If you go that way, I didn't tell you!" it squeaked out, darting back into its hole, most likely to have a cup of tea with its missus.

Smiling to herself, Sarah turned on her heel and began to follow the leftwards path, knowing she had lost precious time. _That's right,_ a voice whispered in her head, _now you're going the right way._ With a sigh, the voice seemingly faded from her mind. Putting away all thoughts of the genderless voice, Sarah continued down the path she had chosen. Unlike the outer ring of the labyrinth, this path did have twists and turns, however it continued on in a single direction, never another path to follow.

Rounding a corner, almost an hour after she had first entered this despicable labyrinth, the path seemed to come to a sudden end. Sighing loudly, Sarah started to turn around. "It's not fair," she cried, "I know I didn't come across any other paths..." She almost felt like giving up and collapsed to the ground, leaning against one of the walls.

Except there wasn't a wall there.

She fell backwards, landing on the ground with a hard thump. What had seemed to be a wall was merely an illusion she realised. "Another trick." Spreading her arms out wide, Sarah lay on the dusty ground, staring up at the bright sky above her. Clouds rolled past her, almost mocking her in their wake. "Just how do I get out of this place?"

As soon as she'd said the words, Sarah wished she hadn't. Behind her head, in the very floor of the labyrinth itself, the stone parted and Sarah fell backwards into a hole. Screaming, she tried to calm herself as she felt hands grasping at her clothes and limbs. Down, down, down they carried her, passing her on from one pair to another. "Stop!" she screamed, dreading what would happen. Abruptly she found herself hanging in midair, her head facing downwards. She could see the hands now as her eyes grew adjusted to the dim lighting within the tunnel.

"So which way?"

Sarah jumped at the voice and tried to back away, her arms flailing as she tried to pull free. "What do you mean which way?"

"Simple as is said," a voice replied, "which way? Up or down?" The terrified fifteen year old could see a face made from hands. In fact, she could see many faces now. A lot of them were smiling or smirking at her and it made her feel more conscious of herself than ever; some of those places the hands were holding onto her, disgusting!

"Where do up and down lead to?" As much as she hated talking to these... things... she had to find out where they would take her.

"Well," another hand-face spoke to her, "if you choose up we'll take you back to where you were before."

"But if you choose down," yet another interjected, "you'll go straight into an oubliette, and who knows where that will lead you?" They were smirking at her now, unnerving her to the very core.

"I thought this way was supposed to lead straight to the Castle," Sarah cried out.

"It does," spoke the first pair of hands, "You just have to ask the way forwards."

Looking at the jeering face, Sarah quickly made up her mind. "Fine, take me the way that leads straight to the Castle beyond the Goblin City." The next moment, Sarah regretted choosing that path as she was flung downwards head first. It felt like she was freefalling down the hole, the wind rushing past her face, making her eyes water.

All too soon she came to a stop in a large lake beneath the ground. Surfacing, Sarah dragged in a long lungful of air, taking another one in almost immediately afterwards. Paddling, she managed to stay adrift in the calm water and took the time to survey her surroundings. The pool seemed deeper than any ocean she had ever heard of, the bottom invisible from the glassy surface. Even though she pushed her arms through the water again and again, the glass like surface remained as flat as the mirror that adorned her vanity at home. Oh how she missed her home and bedroom, the many dresses that hung in her wardrobe and the masses of tiaras and crowns she had fashioned for herself. Mostly she missed her stuffed toys that adorned the shelves above her bed, Lancelot the yellow teddy bear being the first to come to mind.

Something brushing against her leg brought Sarah out of her daydream. Looking down, she saw bright fish amassing around her floating body, glowing from some unknown source of luminescence. Entranced by them, she timidly let her arm reach out to one of the strange fish. It danced against her hand, curiously warm and playful. It almost seemed as if it were smiling to her. Smiling back, she was shocked when the shoal started pushing her along in the water. It was tiring enough just staying afloat without having to fight off the fish as well. "Hey!" Sarah started but one of the fish leapt up and kissed her on the cheek, effectively silencing her. Glowing fish were odd enough, but when they started kissing you? Maybe it was the Goblin King's abnormal take on The Frog Prince. Sarah wouldn't put it past him to warp something as beautiful as a fairy tale.

For almost five minutes the fish playfully dragged Sarah along with them, warming her with their bodies to stave off the cold of the pool. Even so, Sarah was still getting tired from the constant paddling she had to do. In the end she couldn't take the exhaustion anymore and sank beneath the water, letting its cool glassiness cover her face and hair. Down she sank, slowly, calmly, until her feet reached the bottom of the pool. Fighting for air, Sarah looked above her and realised how close to the surface she was still. Maybe if she swam for a few more minutes she might reach the edge of the pool...

Struggling, Sarah began to push her way through the water once more, fighting to reach the surface and vital air. Breaking through the plane of the water, she gasped in air, shivering with the cold. Twice now she had been dunked underwater and the cold was sapping what little strength she had left quickly. Thankfully the fish somehow knew of her predicament and swarmed around her again, fighting off the cold once more. Like a guiding hand, they pulled her though the water until she reached the shore of the lake. Collapsing, she brushed her fingers through damp sand, lying on her front and happy to be once more on dry land.

Sarah was exhausted from her dip in the lake and before she knew it her eyes had closed and she fell victim to the bringer of sleep. As her vision faded she heard again that sexless voice calling out to her. _Sleep sweet Sarah, there is plenty of time left to rescue your dear brother..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note:** Sorry for not saying this before, but this is the first fan fiction I've written so please don't be too harsh; constructive criticism is welcomed. ^_^

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Labyrinth as I am not Jim Henson. I bet I could be a good Goblin Queen if I tried though...

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Grumbling, Sarah awoke to a stifling darkness. She yelled out, calling for anyone to help her. Panic receded as her eyesight grew used to the dim light of her surroundings, reminding her of the trip down the tunnel and into the underground lake. Almost immediately afterwards she felt the cold embrace of the air on her still damp body. Shivering, Sarah slowly stood up and surveyed her surroundings, trying to figure out an escape route. "Now how am I supposed to get out of here? It's not fair!"

"Nothing ever is, is it?" a high pitched voice replied.

"Who's there?" Here in the dark it was hard to discern from which direction the answer came. Sarah turned around but saw no one there, saw no one anywhere. Then again, here in the Labyrinth the unexpected was to be expected and normal was not a recognised concept. Shrugging her shoulders, Sarah was less surprised when she looked towards the mirror-like lake to find the strange luminescent fish staring at her. "Excuse me, do you know how I get out of here?"

"Of course," replied one of the fish, "Why, straight through that door over yonder."

"It's a bit of a steep climb but it'll soon lead you to the surface," added in another, smiling at her, just like the rest of the shoal.

"Thank you." Sarah was unsure about these creatures; Jareth could have sent them to confuse her and lead her in the wrong direction. But then again, what choice did she really have? She could follow their advice or stay down here in this hole, not an exciting prospect to say the least. Brushing herself off, Sarah turned around and headed in the direction the fish had pointed.

"Wait!" one of them called out. "Before you go, take these. If you should need any help these should do the trick." One of the glowing creatures dove beneath the surface and reappeared a moment later with what seemed to be a string of pearls in its mouth. "Just throw one to the ground and it will smash upon impact. Call out your wish and someone will be sure to answer."

Before Sarah had a chance to reply, the fish tossed the object at her and dived beneath as one with the rest of its shoal, silencing her gratitude on her lips. Instead, she chose to see properly what they had granted her with. At first they seemed like simple freshwater pearls, opalescent and shiny in the dim light of the cave, but as she studied the tiny spheres closer Sarah discovered they were much more intriguing. Minute specks covered the surface, sparkling like flecks of glitter in sunlight, despite the obvious lack of it down here. Sarah quickly pocketed them before turning around and heading in the direction of the exit.

She scrambled against the slimy wall of the cave for almost ten minutes before her hands found a crack in the rock. It was far too straight to be a normal fracture of the rock, far too unnatural. Surely this was it. Following the split, Sarah gently ran her fingers along the wall, careful of not cutting her skin, until she came upon what felt like a door handle. She grasped the slippery handle firmly and twisted, pushing against it as she did so. A stone door gave way with a sibilant screech and Sarah fell forwards into another tunnel. Sure as the fish had said, it was a steep, but what they failed to mention was that said tunnel was barely even tall enough for her to crawl through! Sighing deeply, Sarah got down on all fours and proceeded to crawl up towards fresh air.

It was a long and hard crawl, Sarah having to stop every now and again before carrying on once more. The dark tiny hole was suffocating, pressing down on Sarah relentlessly, claustrophobia quickly setting in. A few deep breaths settled Sarah down, but the damage was done and she was compelled with the need to dash to the surface. Scrambling on, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel, an ominous connotation. Would this be her survival or her destruction? _Only one way to find out,_ whispered the sexless voice. Sarah jumped, having forgotten about her mysterious helper.

But what the voice said was correct, only one way to find out...

Bursting out of the tunnel into sunlight, Sarah shut her eyes tight against the blinding brightness. Shielding her face with a hand, Sarah dared to pry open her lids. Sudden apprehension dawned as Sarah realised it wasn't her hand shielding her face. Screaming, she fell to the side, only to find a short stubby man with a large nose staring back at her. "Who... who are you?" she managed to stumble out.

"_I'm_ Hoggle," the man-creature replied indignantly. "But who are _you_?"

Sarah didn't like his tone of voice. First he had scared the living daylights out of her and then he had the cheek to question her presence? How dare he! _Give him a good kicking_, Voice interjected. _Heaven knows he needs it..._ Ignoring Voice's advice was hard, but it had to be done if she was going to get anywhere. "I'm Sarah."

"Ah, so you're the one running the Labyrinth." Hoggle paused to scratch his chin, peering down at her even from his small stature. "Strange, you shouldn't have gotten this far so quickly. Must be a wrong path you've taken." Hoggle's two sentences didn't quite match up and this was what alerted Sarah. Something was off about this... thing... and Sarah wasn't about to fall for it. She could see him fingering a decent sized pouch attached to his belt, a soft clinking sounding from it. Sarah could also see him staring at her wrist, at the plastic bracelet adorning it. Thinking, she decided she'd rather give up her cheap plastic jewellery than never see Toby again.

Toby! She'd almost forgotten that he was the reason she was here in the first place. Stupid girl!

"Hoggle was it? I'll give you my bracelet if you come with me to the Castle beyond the Goblin City, or at least take me as far as you can." Sarah stood up then and brushed her hands off on her knees. Holding out her hand to him, the 15 year old girl looked him firmly in the eye. "Deal?"

The short man thing looked around and hopped from one foot to another, completely unsure of what to do. "Oh alright," he conceded, "but I'm only taking you as far as I can." String at her hand, Hoggle timidly shook Sarah's with his own, grimacing as if he already regretted his decision. Nevertheless, a deal had been made and he couldn't go back on his word now.

"So which way now?" Sarah asked. Since she had fallen from the tunnel, she had yet to see the way forward.

"This way." Hoggle trudged off in front of Sarah to the wall opposite where she had fallen and pressed a large flat palm against the stone. A loud crunching creak resonated about Sarah before a door swung open in the wall. Sarah was amazed by how many walls seemed so solid then turned out to be the way into the next section of the labyrinth. It was still a puzzlement to her though how going 'straight to the Castle beyond the Goblin City' meant traipsing around underground and through tunnels and then stumbling upon hidden doors in walls. So much for straight, there had been more twists and turns in Sarah's path than she dared to count.

And now here she was, staring along a perfectly straight corridor of walls facing nothing other than the Goblin King's Castle. Bracing herself, Sarah took those first steps towards the castle, hoping beyond hope that she would soon get Toby back and that they could go home again, all safe and sound, never having to worry ever again about a certain Goblin King. A certain Goblin King who was always watching her and was mad with fury. How dare she solve his Labyrinth so quickly!

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

**Author note:** Wow... I was so surprised to find my inbox crammed full of alerts and reviews when I opened it up this morning! Thank you so much to the people who reviewed! Special mention here for you because you really made my day ^_^

Yuki the Ryuujin No Miko, notwritten, a and n, hazlgrnLizzy. Thank you so much! Cookies for all ^_^


End file.
